It was summer time two-thousand-something and I had just graduated from high school. After the ceremony I had leapt into the passenger seat of my best friend's RV along with three of our other friends, and we headed down south. After hours of driving we ran out of gas in Sea Glass Beach, Florida. Once there the plan was to spend the summer kicking back and relaxing and having the time of our young lives.
The first two days we spent walking around the small town trying to get a feel for our new home for the next three months. By the third day we had found our way around the little town and had made ourselves quiet comfortable. Everything was falling into place and it seemed like it was gonna be a nice, relaxing summer as planned—but when does anything go as planned? Being the young eighteen-year-old I was blind to my surrounds and had no idea I was headed for the biggest sucker punch life had to offer.
I will never forget the day I met her, the sun was high in the sky with not a single cloud to offer any relief from the relentless heat. It was so hot outside my sweat drops had sweat drops, our apartment was a nightmare; all stinky, humid, and the smell could have been used in Chemical Warfare. Outside wasn't any better, but there was a very slight relief with the very minor breeze coming off the ocean. In order to escape the sticky, sweaty, stinky room I volunteered to go get some food for everyone.
I had been walking back from the minimart, arms full of bags lost in my own thoughts so much so that when I turned the corner I ran into someone. Bags, food, papers, and books flew everywhere as I find myself laying flat on my back with another person on top of me.
Suddenly there was a wave of blond curls in my face as the person sat up. She rubbed her head and opened her eyes to stare at me. She blinked a few times before it processed in her head that she had just taken me down in one fatal crash.
"I'm so sorry!" She said hurriedly and scrambled off of me. "I should have been watching where I was going."
"No, no it's my fault," I said and stared at her, "I wasn't paying attention."
"No, I really shouldn't be reading and walking." She said through an airy laugh and smiled sheepishly. "But I just had to get to the end of the story to find out if he actually gets the girl."
"It's ok," I smiled, "I can understand the spell of a good book."
She smiled and looked about her to see her books and papers scattered amongst my many cans of soda, bags of chips, hot dogs, and various candies. Quietly she started to gather her belongings, I helped her wrestle escaping papers and dismantled books until everything of hers was in a nice neat pile on the sidewalk. Once her belongings were in order she assisted me in gathering mine.
Helping her to her feet I smiled and said, "Names Marshal."
She kindly returned the smile, "Valentine, but everyone calls me Val."
Although my apartment was on the other side of Sea Glass Beach I offered to walk with her back to her beach house. Within the next few weeks we saw each other more and more. The days were filled with rides, games, boardwalk food, and the beach. Nights were comprised of stargazing, night surfing, bonfires, and lu-ows. It was almost like something out of a movie, the summer romance everyone dreams about. I knew I was in love, three months together felt more like thirty-three-years—I knew she was going to be my wife.
I loved everything about her the way she laughed, they way she cried, she was funny, intelligent, beautiful beyond compare and I was going to make her mine forever. But see the thing about a summer romance is you never expect it to end, but ironically summer does end...and unfortunately sometimes...so does the romance.
